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KENNESAW, Ga. – Redshirt-junior Tyler Hooker's stellar all-around performance was not enough to push the Kennesaw State men's basketball team over Hofstra Saturday afternoon as the Owls fell to the Pride 78-52 in the Convocation Center.

Hooker finished with a team-high 16 points, nearly recording a triple-double with six assists and six rebounds, both marks just shy of his career-highs.

How it happened: The Owls (1-8) and the Pride (5-3) traded buckets to open the game, deadlocked 7-7 at the 15:36 mark. Redshirt-junior Bryson Lockley recorded five of KSU's seven points in the opening minutes. After a free throw from Freshman Ugo Obineke made it 10-8, Hofstra proceeded to go on an 11-0 run to lead 21-8 with 11:40 left in the first half.

Obineke finally broke Hofstra's run with a jumper as the two teams traded buckets throughout the rest of the half. The final three minutes were played at the free throw line, with two made attempts from Lockley making it 37-22 at the half.

KSU came out firing in the second half, going on a 10-2 run to pull within 10 points, 41-32, at the 15:05 mark following a jumper from Lockley. A 7-2 run from the Pride gave Hofstra back its double-digit lead, 15-36, with just over 10 minutes to play.

The Pride maintained that lead, building it to as high as 74-48, following an 11-2 run capped off by a layup at the 2:27 mark. KSU had only two made buckets in the final 10 minutes of the game, scoring 10 of its final 14 points from the free throw line.

Hooker scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, going a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line.

Notes: This is the seventh straight game in double-figures for Tyler Hooker … Hooker's six assists is a season-high and two shy of his career-high, while his six rebounds is one shy of his career-high set earlier this year against Eastern Kentucky … Bryson Lockley and Ugo Obineke both recorded their second-straight game in double-figures with 13 points each … Isaac Mbuyamba led the team with eight rebounds, one shy of his career-high … As a team, the Owls went 16-of-17 from the free throw line … the Owls recorded 11 assists against the Pride, the third time this season they have recorded 10 or more assists.

Quotes: Head Coach Al Skinner
On the team's scoring struggles…
"This game is about scoring points. Everybody says defense is important, yes defense is important, defense wins championships, and I understand that, but right now we are just not scoring well enough to win basketball games. It's not like we are getting bad shots, guys just have to be able to make the shots that we are getting. We had four different players take double-figure shots and not shoot a high percentage. Right now, that has to improve. Our execution is fairly good, getting shots that we want. We just have to be able to put the ball in the basket and when we start doing that then we'll start to see a difference in the results."

On freshman Ugo Obineke…
"It looks like he's stepping up because he's making a couple shots when no one else is, so I think it's kind of getting a little exaggerated because we are really struggling to score points. But he has shown an attitude, at least he knows where his shots are coming from. He's taking good shots and trying to play with a little confidence."

On the strive to get better…
"Our starting unit is doing okay, we just have to shoot the ball better, and then we have to get our guys coming off the bench to be able to give us a lift or at least maintain what we are doing. It's a young team, it is that, and we are just trying to pull it all together. We are going to keep striving, keep working. Practices have been good and that's a thing you look at is practice falling off, and no practice is not falling off. It's just that right now it is not translating to the game, and that's what we need to do. Our practice habits need to translate to the game."

Up next: The Owls have nearly two weeks off as they take a break for finals. KSU returns to the court Thursday (Dec. 13), taking on Gardner-Webb in North Carolina at 5:30 p.m.